This invention is concerned with the selection of prosthetic tooth colors and is more particularly concerned with an improved tooth shade comparator.
Selection of an appropriate color or shade for teeth of prosthetic devices involves color comparison of patients' teeth with shade guide elements. To make this comparison, a dentist places a selected shade guide element adjacent to a patient's tooth and attempts to determine whether there is a color match. The shade guide element may be one of a set of artificial teeth of different colors mounted on metal strips.
Despite the best efforts of dentists to select a prosthetic tooth color that matches the color of a patient's tooth, errors in color selection are common. When a patient rejects a dental prosthesis because the artificial teeth do not match the color of the patient's teeth, there may be significant financial loss to the dentist and/or the dental laboratory that manufactured the prosthesis, and the dentist's competence may be questioned. At the very least, there is the inconvenience of having to manufacture a new prosthesis.